Dreams of a better world
by Choko-chi
Summary: What if they didn't play basketball, if they didn't even go to school? They were discovered at a young age to have strange powers, and ever since they had been prisoners in a lab with no hope of ever living a normal life. Warnings : Character death, violence, abuse, blood and death.


**_This is just a random idea i got for a story, it was only supposed to be a few thousand words long, but when i first got started i couldn't stop again ;P Well i hope you like ti :)!_**

**_Summary : What if they didn't play basketball, if they didn't even go to school? They were discovered at a young age to have strange powers, and ever since they had been prisoners in a lab with no hope of ever living a normal life._**

**_Warnings : Character death, violence, abuse, blood and death. _**

**_Disclaimer : I don't own Kuroko no Basket, but it would be pretty awesome if i did :P_ **

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Dreams of a better world.

Pain. It was the only thing that registered in his mind. Another failed experiment. They still didn't know where he got his powers from, and they still didn't know how to give powers similar to his to other people. It had been a hard experiment, they kept injecting him with strange things to test how his body reacted to them. He felt sick.

He looked at the white walls, everything was white, too white. The beds, the walls, the floor, everything around him. He stood out in that abnormally white room, which is why it was white, they couldn't risk him disappearing again. He had disappeared many times, just blended in with the room and waited, followed people silently, moving in their shadows, never being found, but he couldn't take care of himself. No matter how hard he tried, he always had to show himself at some time, and when he did he was brought back.

But it was all worth it, the few hours of sunshine, the feeling of the wind blowing against his skin, that small taste of mother natures power, nothing really mattered as much as that. They could punish him as much as they wanted when they caught him again, take away all his furniture, leave him in that white room, but he would still do it again. It was the thing that kept him going, the thought of bright sunny days or dark rainy ones.

Aquamarine eyes looked up at the white ceiling, determination shining in the otherwise emotionless eyes. He would get out of there, he had to. He lifted his arm, reaching for the ceiling with his left hand as he lay sprawled across the small bed. His black clothes and blue hair made him stand out in the white room, just as the researchers had planned, not that it stopped him from escaping, but it made him easier to spot.

He slowly let his hand fall to the bed again, all emotion leaving his eyes. He was only thirteen, way too young to even have to think about those things, nothing but a child. But he never really got to be a child, hardly even considered a human, because that was easier for them, considering him a freak, just another experiment, so that they could return home to their families and feel as if they did nothing wrong.

He sighed and turned onto his side. He was just so tired. They must have injected him with something tranquilizing to prevent him from escaping again. It hadn't been more than a few days since his last attempt at escaping, not that he got that far. He didn't even reach the inner walls of the lab, but that didn't mean that they weren't furious, so they had tested new medicine on him since.

He slowly closed his eyes, his world fading to black as he lost consciousness. But even in his sleep he found no rest, a blinking red dot in the top corner by the door constantly

watching him, watching as he faded in and out of existence while he slept, watching as the shadows came up from beneath the bed, wrapping him in a comforting embrace, lulling him into a peaceful sleep.

xXx

It was snowing, had been for a while now, so it had time to pile up. Aquamarine eyes quickly looked around in the white wonderland, looking for anyone who shouldn't be there. He was alone, he had escaped once again, but he couldn't celebrate yet, he still had to leave the outer wall, and as long as he was on the labs ground he wasn't safe. But he couldn't help that small feeling of victory, it had been a while since he last got so far, got so close to freedom.

He quickly darted from one shadow into the next one, while his powers had gotten stronger through the years, but he no longer had the endurance needed to use them, as he never really got to exercise his powers beyond his attempts to escape, so he had used up most of his energy getting outside. He could see the outer wall in the distance, tall black wall that kept everyone inside, and he took a deep breath before he ran.

He should have known better. They knew he was gone, they always knew, they only had to wait for him to show himself. They had been a bit slower, they hadn't expected him to pop up outside, but he was only free for so long before they got someone after him. Five men clad in white armor was on his trail after only ten minutes in the open, and he knew that if he wanted to escape, he had to be fast.

So he ran, he ran as fast as his bare feet would allow him to, but it was nowhere near fast enough. He could hear them getting closer, hear them yelling behind him, but he dared not look back, because he knew that if he looked back, he would lose every chance of escaping, and he couldn't bear that, not when he finally had gotten so far. So he kept running, even though he knew it to be futile, because just maybe he could outrun them, maybe he could get out, maybe he could be allowed one look at the outside world. A low crack of a gun being fired shattered that hope. He could feel the dart hit his shoulder, injecting something into his bloodstream, and he quickly pulled it out.

His blood was pumping trough his veins, heart thundering in his ear with every beat, and darkness was slowly creeping into his vision. A slight sheen of sweat covered his forehead, small droplets running into his long untamed blue hair. His muscles were cramping. They had shot him with some sort of calming drug, something to make him slower, to make him weaker. Added with his bad shape, the five men soon caught up, not that he would give in without a fight, as the men soon learned.

He had saved some energy to use his powers to get to the other side of the wall, but he saw no use in saving it anymore, he knew that this battle was lost, but he wouldn't take it just laying down. No matter how small and fragile he seemed, he was still a fighter, and before the men even knew what hit them two of them was down. One of them pinned to the ground by his own shadows, the other pinned by the now seventeen year old boy. The

pale boy had a tight grip around the neck of the man, slowly strangling the other, but he never really got to finish the job as the drugs kicked in, making him collapse on the older man.

The shadows quickly moved from the downed soldier to the boy, wrapping around his torso and melting into his body. The soldiers quickly moved back a step, never really getting used to seeing the shadows melt into the boy, it seemed so wrong. One of the soldiers, the tallest of them, picked the boy up and threw him over his shoulder.

"Let's get him back, it's bad enough that we let him get this far", the soldier said, as he started walking back. He wasn't really all that happy about being the one that had to carry the boy, but he knew that someone had to do it and none of the others looked like they wanted to touch the freak. They had to hurry back, it wasn't only the freak who would get punished this time. It was an important day, there would be more freaks joining today, and it would set a bad example if they knew that they had let the blue haired boy got so far.

The soldier sighed as he moved through the snow. He hated this job. He knew that they were human, that what they did to them was wrong, and he knew that no one, especially the boy on his shoulder, deserved that kind of treatment. He had never done anything wrong, never even got to be a child. Forced to live a life filled with pain. The soldier slowly shook his head as they moved through the big metal doors to the lab. They never really understood how the boy got out.

xXx

When he was awake again he was strapped to a metal table. He had expected that to happen, he always ended up there after a failed escape attempt, or when they wanted to test something new. He was shirtless, the only thing he had on were a pair of black shorts, and he was hooked to a lot of machines that made a lot of noise. A lot of needles were stuck in his hands and arms, taped down to make sure that they stayed there.

He slowly tried to move his head, but even his neck was strapped down with metal rings. So it was something bad they had in mind this time. They started strapping his neck down when he was younger and hit his head against the table when it got really painful, and he even managed once to hit his head so hard against the table that he passed out. He stared at the ceiling, couldn't really do anything else, as he waited. Not that he had to wait long, a doctor soon came in, they always knew when he was awake.

"Really Kuroko, you should have known better by now. Did you really think that you could escape?" the doctor said. Kuroko knew that the chances of him escaping were very slim, but he had hope, he knew that someday, even if it killed him, he would get out. "...and on a day as important as this one." He zoned out again. So today was important. He only caught a few words after that. Something about more freaks. He couldn't really concentrate, but then again, most people would find it hard to listen to someone preach on and on about freaks while said person was injecting you with all kinds of strange liquids.

He felt strange, and he could hear the beeping of the machines changed in rhythm, from the normal steady beeping, to a fast and strained one. Oh, he realized, this wasn't good. Pain made his mind crash, made him unable to think about anything but the pain, making him want to scream and cry, but he didn't. Instead, he arched his body of the table, while his arms, legs and neck were caught against the table. All his muscles were cramping, making agony crash through his body. Eyes wide open and jaw clenched shut to prevent any sound from escaping, but even then small whimpers of pain still left him.

He stayed like that for hours, only getting a few breaks to crumble onto the table in exhaustion before someone once again injected him with something that would cause pain to wreck his body. Slowly the last drug wore off and his body once again collapsed against the table, his breathing was irregular, nothing more than quick gasps, trying desperately to get enough air into his lounges. Pain-filled aquamarine eyes slowly closed, he was so tired. His throat was sore, he had lost the battle with the pain within the first hour, screaming his throat hoarse for the remaining hours of torture.

Slowly the metal strips around his ankles, wrists and throat let go, and he slowly relaxed, letting his body fall completely onto the cold metal table. His muscles were still cramping, causing small burst of pain through his body, but he was too tired to care. Once again someone entered the room, this time it was a soldier. He walked over to the downed boy, not a word was said, and then lifted him of the table. He quickly gave up on getting the boy to stand on his own, and just hefted him over his shoulder.

The soldier's shoulder was uncomfortable, digging into the boy's stomach and causing more pain, not that the soldier really cared. The walk was short, the rooms and the labs were close just in case people got hurt or were unable to walk on their own, and Kuroko's room was the last in the hallway, the one which was most watched. As they walked passed the other rooms Kuroko noticed something new, the rooms that were usually empty were now occupied. Was this what they had talked about? More freaks? Right before he got to his room he got eye contact with a pair of mismatched eyes, eyes that knew too much, and he knew, knew that he was no longer alone.

Kuroko was awake again when the doors to his room opened. Normally no one would even approach his door if it weren't absolutely necessary, not that he really cared. He had grown used to the silence. A doctor came in, white lab coat undone, and a rather messy appearance. A new doctor, Kuroko quickly concluded.

The doctor looked at some papers, and then looked up at the blue haired boy in front of him. He was like nothing he had ever seen before. Small, still the size of a child, a pale shade of blue hair that was about shoulder length, sleepy emotionless blue eyes peeking out from behind blue bangs, cheeks slightly flushed from the earlier pain. A thin shoulder peeked out from underneath the too big black shirt that the soldier had dressed him in before leaving. He looked so small, so adorable, and so wrong. And probably the most disturbing thing about the boy were the bruises around his neck, wrists and ankles, such dark bruises on such a pale creature.

"My name is Shinya, I'm here to make sure that you won't get hurt more than necessary", he said as he looked at the boy, Kuroko, his mind supplied. Kuroko didn't say anything, didn't even move as to indicate that he had heard what the other said, but Shinya knew that he had heard him. He took a step closer the small boy, and those aquamarine eyes were finally focused totally on him. Okay, the brown haired man thought, this might not be good. He took a step closer, and before he even had time to blink he was surrounded by shadows. Not good at all.

Shadows moved all around him, pinning his feet to the ground, touching all over, searching. Everything even remotely sharp was taken and hurled at the door to the room, even the two pens in Shinya's pocket on his lab coat was taken, leaving him with nothing but his clothes, the papers in his hand, his glasses and the two hairpins that kept his hair out of his face. He looked back at all the stuff scattered on the floor around the door, and then sighed. "I need the needles to take a blood sample", he said as he looked back at the boy on the bed.

The shadows moved again, this time wavering, flicking in and out of existence, as if unsure if they should obey, before they moved over and grabbed the needles again, leaving the needles on the bed next to Kuroko. He slowly picked the needles up and once he checked that they were all empty, the shadows let the new doctor move again. He handed over the needles once the doctor got to the bed, lifting his arm, not really all that interested anymore. It wasn't the first time that they had to examine his blood, they always did it after injecting him with something, but he never really trusted them enough to let them get near him without him checking them first. That was a lesson learned from having them injecting him with something when they pretended to need a blood sample. Not that they hadn't learned too, he didn't respond well to some of the things they did to him.

Kuroko hadn't even noticed when the doctor finished, nor did he notice when he moved, If he was deemed a threat, Kuroko's shadows would warn him. They might not be able to help him as much as they had in the past, but they could still warn him when something was wrong.

"Are you coming?" asked Shinya as he looked back at the pale boy on the bed. He was already at the door, squatting down collecting his things, with the door open. Kuroko looked at the man, and he slowly rose from his bed. "We thought that it would be good for you to meet someone like you, but if you try to escape again I cannot guarantee what would happen," the man warned, now standing up, this time with all his things back where they used to be. He looked at Kuroko once more, and walked out from the little room, letting Kuroko decide for himself if he wanted to greet the others.

Kuroko slowly walked after the doctor, his legs felt strange and heavy, but he didn't want to let his chance get away. He might not be able to escape for a while, but if he behaved they might start to trust him more, let him be around the others more, which would give him more chances to escape. And he was curious, he hadn't met anyone like him for years, and he wanted to meet the person with the red hair and the strangely colored eyes. So he followed, behaving like a good child, while he wondered how long he had to wait until he would be free again.

He slowly looked around the hallway, they were still on the same one that his room was in, but they were on the other end of it, and they were approaching the common room. Kuroko knew where it was, but he had never been inside. They had deemed him too big of a threat to get close to the others, and not only that, there were too many places to hide in there. But this time he was allowed in, and it only got better when the doctor didn't follow him in, he simply opened the door, and let Kuroko in, where after he closed the door again, and simply walked away.

Kuroko looked around the room, as all the other rooms this one was also white, not that he really noticed that much and nor did he care, he decided as he looked at the other people in the room. The one he immediately noticed was the red head. He could feel the power rolling of him in thick waves, almost making his knees go weak. A golden and a red eye were looking him over, a bit curiously, but without emotions, and Kuroko found it disturbing how those eyes seemed like they looked right through him, looked at his dearest memories and emotions, but the redhead gave nothing away.

"I have been waiting to meet you," the redhead spoke, even though he barely lifted his voice above a whisper, Kuroko could still feel the power in those words. In those words that said so much more than he had thought that words ever could. He felt a slight shiver make its way down his back. That person knew him, knew what he had done, knew everything about him.

"He looks kinda small," someone said in a lazy drawl, and finally made the redhead break their eye contact. Kuroko let a small, almost unnoticeable, sigh leave him. That had been hard, harder than he would admit, and he could feel the shadows beneath him move in agitation, responding to what they had seen as a threat against their 'master', but they did nothing. He was sure that if he had been strong enough the shadows would have attacked.

Kuroko took a deep breath, and then slowly shifted his attention to the others in the room. There were five other people including the redhead, and they all looked just as strange as he did. All, except the one with golden hair, had some strange hair color, and Kuroko didn't think that it was colored. There was one with purple hair, probably the one who had spoken before, as he was the only one not studying Kuroko, and purple eyes. It wasn't something that you saw every day, but then again, neither was blue hair.

Kuroko once again looked at the purple haired giant, or maybe only part giant? Kuroko didn't know, and he didn't really care, he only knew that the other was huge, and apparently sucking on a lollipop. That was something Kuroko definitely hadn't seen before. Normally they didn't allow you to eat anything unhealthy, because it could lead to some kind of disease. The purple haired boy raised an eyebrow when he noticed the blue haired boy looking at him.

Getting slightly uncomfortable Kuroko looked away, only to get eye contact with a pair of light green eyes that were magnified by the glasses he wore. He was scrutinizing Kuroko, observing his every move, and judging him, deciding if he was a threat or not, just as he himself were doing. The blue haired boy did not deem the other as a threat, he actually looked quite normal, if you ignored the green hair and the strange symbol on his forehead of a horseshoe.

The blonde, the only one in the room who had a semi normal hair color, was fidgeting, trying to stay still, but it was obvious that the blond was usually not that quiet. He seemed more like a child than a teenager, big happy smile and a very childish air around him, but those golden eyes were serious, looking him up and down, trying to see through him, but not quite succeeding, which, strangely enough, seemed to please him. "He's the real deal," he said quite amazed.

A sigh made him look at the last person in the room. "We already knew that Kise. Akashi wouldn't make us come all the way out here if he wasn't." Just by the sound of his voice alone Kuroko could tell that he was strong. He almost seemed like a predator waiting to jump his prey, and that set Kuroko and his shadows slightly on edge. Ha had very dark hair, almost black, but if one stared long enough you could spot the dark blue highlights in it, but that wasn't what made the boy stand out. It was his build. Muscles rippling across his body, jumping and flexing with every move he made, and that only helped to declare his status as a predator.

To say Kuroko was nervous would be an understatement, but he didn't let it show. He kept his emotionless mask firmly in place, it would not do to lose composure from something like that. He knew that it would happen sooner or later, but he had not prepared for it to happen so soon. He slowly looked up as the redhead, the unofficially leader if he had to guess, stepped forward and introduced them all. He just had to behave until he could escape.

xXx

It had been half a year since they arrived, and Kuroko was slowly getting used to them. At first it was very strange, no one said anything when they did something wrong, didn't interfere with them unless there was an experiment. It was something new for Kuroko who was used to being punished for the smallest of things, if they even suspected him of running away again they would drug him for days, until he couldn't even feel the difference between his bed, and the hard, cold, metal table.

But that hadn't happened since the others arrived, the scientists had barely even experimented on any of them more than once a month, and Kuroko could feel his powers slowly returning to what they used to be, but he no longer thought about escaping. He found himself content with being kept in the lab. Sure, there were some things that he could go without, but he was no longer alone, he had people like him there.

Another thing that had changed was his freedom. Before, they wouldn't let him outside his room unless he was heading to an experiment, and even then he would be going in chains and with more guards than what he thought would be needed, to make sure that he didn't escape. But now he was allowed to walk around, only accompanied by Shinya, and he was even allowed in the common room with all the others, with no observation besides the usual surveillance camera.

It had taken him a while to learn what powers the others had, but then again, it had also taken them a while to learn his abilities, not that he really understood them himself, the only one who hadn't seemed surprised was Akashi, though given his powers it came as no surprise. Akashi had the ability to see everything, the past, the present and the future. And to be honest it frightened Kuroko a lot. He didn't like the fact that someone could see everything that he had been through, but on the other hand, it had been Akashi's ability to see the future that made them gather together.

Murasakibara's ability had given him quite a shock. One day he had waken and found the 'giant' had been beside him on the couch in the common room. The 'giant' wasn't exactly a giant anymore, he was the size of a child. That had been something that surprised both him, Kise and Aomine, none of them had known of that secondary ability. When asked why he had shrunk, he only answered that he hadn't wanted to squish Kuroko in his sleep, because Kuroko was so tiny, while he himself was so big.

Midorima's ability had been the most predictable. But then again, his never-ending talk about luck, lucky items, and lucky days, had given it away, but it had been a surprise to see just how far his luck stretched. He could be lucky in anything. He got lucky with the experiments, never really needing to go through something really bad, he was lucky with his food, never getting anything that he didn't want, but he also got lucky in some rather strange ways. He came from an abusive home, they found out that he had powers, took him away, but he ended up somewhere worse, but he no longer had to get hurt by his family. He had wished to get away, and he got away, but there were always a prize to pay. And then there was his ability to heal from almost everything, wherever it was a thing he got from his primary ability, or another total different ability, no one really knew.

Kise had some kind of strange abilities, the first one was mostly useless, and it only got used by the researchers when they weren't sure if people really had an ability, or they were just good at something. It was the ability to see if someone had any ability, and if they did, then what it was. The only ones that he hadn't been able to tell which abilities were, were the other five, they were somehow able to avoid detecting.

His second ability was total copying. He was able to copy everything from a person without abilities, from the way that they walked and behaved, to their deepest memories and biggest fears. It was an ability that made him often used as test subject, they really wanted that ability, because once they had it, no one would be able to stop them from discovering anything that they wanted. They could make their people go undercover for years, until they had every thing that they needed, and then they could command them to kill everyone, without anyone suspecting anything. But that was also why he was the only one among them who didn't have a strange hair color, because the golden hair and the brown eyes weren't really his. They were features that he chose to blend in more. And no one of them really knew what he looked like. Well they all strongly suspected that Akashi knew, but then again, he almost knew everything about them.

The only reason he really knew what Aomine's ability was, was because of an accident. After an exceptionally hard experiment he had gone feral. He had lost control of his ability, and had slaughtered almost everyone that got in his way. He had lost control of all the animal spirits that lived inside him, and he had almost hurt Kuroko in the process. Fortunately he had gotten stronger since the experiments lessened, and he managed to restrain Aomine with his shadows and get him into the common room, where Akashi was able to calm him down. That was also how they learned about his ability to control the shadows, and later they discovered the other ability, the one that let him meld into the shadows and disappear for however long his body would allow.

All this made them closer. Some he were closer to than others, such as Kise and Aomine, both who had taken to bothering him at most days where there were no experiments planned for either of them. But they were also there to help him through the days after extremely taxing experiments. They helped and fed him, and made sure that he wouldn't die during his recovering from whatever they had pumped into his bloodstream. Not that he really needed it. He had been exposed to various experiments through the years, and he had never really known a life without the constant pain and recovering, and the pain never really got him down as long as it did with the others, because he had built up an resistance to most of the older things that they pumped into his blood.

It was nice while it lasted, having someone caring for him, but he knew that it had to end sooner or later, He knew that there were no way out, and while they were only experimented a few times a month, the experiments were harder, and would sometimes last up till three days. Of course, recovering time was longer, and it was harder to pull through. He knew that sooner or later, they would fall apart, and he would be alone again.

xXx

His desire to run away came in waves. There were months that he could go on without as much as thinking about escaping, where the experiments mere minimal, and he was content, where it felt as if nothing could go wrong. But then there were also months where he found the mere thought of being kept inside, nothing more than a prisoner, suffocating. That he needed to get out, needed to see every part of the word, feel the things that he had only heard from what the other five talked about.

He, unlike them, had never really been 'free'. He had nothing to compare the life in captivity to, he had been in the lab for as long as he remembered. They had told him about the outside world, about the horrors of society, the beauty of the different places in the world, the people, both the good and the bad, and about family, which had been a subject that Kuroko had been very fascinated about, because he had never really known his family, never known if they loved him like Kise's parents did him, or if they would hurt him like Midorima's parents did him. He didn't even know if they were still alive, or if they were dead like Akashi's were.

And he wanted to know, sometimes more than others, and when it was really bad, he couldn't stand being trapped in that place, but he never really got further than the inner walls when he tried. He had never failed that bad since he had started, and at that time he was only nine, barely able to control his abilities. But he also knew why he failed as much as he did, not that he really could hate Akashi for telling on him. He knew by then that Akashi only did what he did to keep them together, because he had already lost one family, and he didn't want to lose anymore people that he considered his 'family' even if they were quite an odd bunch of misfits. Not belonging anywhere, and yet they fit so well together, it was almost as if they had known each other all their lives.

So he couldn't hate Akashi for using his ability to look into the future to help the scientists finding him, because while he still got punished, it wasn't nearly as severe as before. There were never really any real danger of him getting out. So they didn't punish him as much, unless he hurt one of them, which he quickly understood and stopped doing. No reason making it worse for himself.

But even though he knew that it was more or less hopeless trying to escape, he couldn't stop himself from trying. He wanted to see the world, live a long and fulfilling life, feel all kinds of emotions that he had only just started to grasp. He wanted to have a family, see where he came from, find any living, if there even was any, family, try to find happiness, a life without pain and suffering. So while he couldn't hate Akashi, he could get a bit angry, and avoid him for some time, while he had time to recover. And little by little he started accepting that he wouldn't be allowed to flee, that there were no chance of him going while Akashi could just find him.

xXx

It had come as quite the shock when they heard that Murasakibara had died under an experiment. It wasn't unheard of, but none had thought that it would be the purple haired giant that went first, the only one that didn't even seem remotely shocked was Akashi, but then again, he was quite hard to surprise with those eyes of his.

It hurt to know that one of them had died, but Kuroko wasn't as sad as he felt he should be. He wasn't nearly as close to Murasakibara as he was to the others. The only one who Murasakibara was really close to was Akashi. Kuroko had been slowly preparing for one of them to go. He knew that it was rare that one survived as long as they had in that particular lab, and Kuroko was the first one who had survived fifteen years there. Normally one only lasted a few months before the scientist injected you with something too strong, or gave a little too much of something, and they had already been there for more than two years.

And deep down Kuroko had known that Murasakibara would be the first to go. The tests he underwent had been longer apart and more taxing, leaving him so tired that he couldn't even unwrap a lollipop. They had found out what gave him the power to grow and shrink, and because of that they had focused on what made him so strong, and that had killed him. He was no longer necessary for their research, they didn't need the super strength, and they wanted to see if they could understand it, but they didn't need it.

Kuroko looked at the other people in the room, the Generation of Miracles was what the scientists called them. All born within a year of each other, all born with some strange power that made them stand out, all freaks of nature, all alone. They had lost one of their own, yet none of them seemed devastated from the loss of their friend, it was more like an accepting sadness, and the knowledge that he was just the first one to go, and soon they would all meet up in the afterlife again. They had all just realized that they were all doomed.

Midorima slowly looked at Akashi, he knew better than to question their unofficial leader. But he needed to know, needed to know who was next, needed to know why he had let them go to that lab if he knew that they were all going to die there, why he had led them to their death. And almost as if the redhead had read his thoughts he answered, and who knew, maybe he had read the others thoughts, no one really knew the limits to his powers, or maybe he had seen them in the future, seen him ask, but just didn't want to wait for the other to do it.

"I did not see this in time to prevent it, did not see his death before it already was decided, before they had given him the injection and his fate was sealed, and I do not know who is next", he took one of his hands and placed it over his left eye, the golden one, the one that let him see the future, and slowly closed the other. "I see nothing beyond tomorrow, nothing at all." His voice did not change, not even when he mentioned his inability to see, something that had never happened before.

They only really understood the meaning of him not being able to see the future anymore the next day. After a rather long and painful experiment, Akashi came back out, unconscious, and without his golden eye. And that was when Kuroko's long since repressed need to be free began to act up again. He thought that he had accepted that there was no way out, that Akashi wouldn't let him leave, but now that Akashi could no longer warn the soldiers he once again had a chance, he could leave.

But could he really do that to the others? The answer became quite clear when Midorima a week later came out from an experiment half dead. The only thing really keeping him alive was his healing abilities, but even that could not help him, it only prolonged his suffering, giving him two full days of pain before his body finally shut down. He died with a slight smile on his face. Finally set free from the pain, and in a way, his abnormal luck once again helped him, because even though he died, he did not have to wait around, have to wonder if he would be the next, and neither did he have to go through the experiments anymore.

Kuroko wanted, no, he needed, to get out. He refused to die in the lab, without ever really seeing the world, he just had to wait for the right moment to try, and he didn't want to get caught on the way out, as that would almost, if not surely, lead him right to his death.

xXx

They were slowly dying, each in their own,slow way, and it was painful to watch as they got weaker and weaker. It had been a few months since Akashi had lost his eye, and his power was slowly disappearing, and he could do nothing to stop it. He could feel how his power slowly sucked away his life force, making him weaker and weaker until he no longer could leave his bed. He had looked at them, really looked, and then he had smiled. When he talked it was in a calmer tone, a tone that none of them had ever heard before, but it still held the same power us usual.

"I have already seen your choice to escape, I saw it a few days ago, and I know that the only thing keeping you here is me. I don't have much time left, and neither do you. You should just leave me here. I do not need you here, I do not need you to see my last moments." His voice didn't waver, it never did. He was just calm and accepting, he knew what was ahead of him. He didn't need his ability to see the future to know that he would be dead within the day, he could feel it. He hadn't been able to keep food in his system for more than a week, and he was almost unable to move. He didn't want their pitiful stares when they understood just how bad it was. Or that was at least what he told himself.

They had hesitated for a bit, but even then, he was still their leader, and if he wanted them gone, they would go. And he was right, they didn't have long. After the last experiment that Kuroko had been through he had started coughing blood up, not that he had told the others yet, but he suspected that Akashi knew. It wasn't that bad yet, he could still hide it, but it was getting worse. It had been about a month since the last experiment, and at first it had only been a little bit of blood, and only once or twice a day, but as the days passed it slowly got worse, and now he found it harder and harder to hide from the two overprotective people in the makeshift family.

They had been planning for the day that they could finally escape for a few weeks, they knew what they needed to do to get out, and Kuroko knew of most of the most unguarded routes out. They slowly left Akashi's room, they knew that he didn't have long again, but they didn't cry. They knew that they would meet again in the afterlife. They had all accepted that, they knew that sooner or later, most likely sooner than they would have liked, they would meet again.

As soon as they left the room Kise changed. His hair got longer, and slowly started to get black as his eyes turned a dark green. He had earlier that month stolen a uniform, and now he looked like any other doctor in the lab.

"Lets go." They didn't know who of them said it. It didn't matter, because it was what they all thought. Kuroko led the way. He knew the lab like no other, he even knew it better than most of the researchers. He had lived there his whole life.

But he knew that they needed to hurry, the cameras were still on, and while they might believe that the one that they were walking with was a doctor, they would soon realize that it was a lie. Then they would follow after them, and they would be quicker than they would. So they walked, no use in running as that would only make them look suspicious, until they reached the small hallway that Kuroko knew was the quickest and less guarded way out, and then they started running. Just as Kuroko expected, it didn't take long until the soldiers were after them, and he could feel another coughing fit on the way. He realized right then, that it would end very badly for them all. None of them were sure to survive their next experiment, and they knew that. That was also what made them run as fast as they could.

Kuroko could feel the adrenaline pumping in his blood. He knew that they were painfully close to getting caught, and he knew that he wouldn't live to see another day if they were. So he ran, he ran as fast as he could, but it was obviously not fast enough for the others liking, as Aomine picked him up and continued on like nothing was wrong.

"Turn here, and then it's just straight ahead," Kuroko forced himself to say. His voice was strained and hoarse from keeping the coughing away, he couldn't afford to lose control of himself just yet, but the talking forced the blood up his throat and out of his mouth in a violent coughing fit. Quickly his hands flew to his mouth, but not quick enough, as both Kise and Aomine stopped running and stared at him with worrying looks, as his body trembled in exhaustion.

They made a quick decision. The soldiers were about to catch up with them, they had no hope of outrunning them as they were now, and someone must stay behind. Before Kise could volunteer himself, Aomine had dumped Kuroko in Kise's arms, and started slowly walking towards the oncoming soldiers. "I have a bigger chance of stopping them here than either of you, just get going and make it to the other side for me." Aomine had already realized that it would be his end, he knew that he would die there, fighting the soldiers, but he also knew that he wouldn't go down alone. He would take as many of them with him as he could.

He looked at the soldiers in front of him, and slowly let the little control he had of his inner beast go. There was no holding back. The others' freedom depended on how well he could hold the soldiers back. His nails lengthened and sharpened, his canines morphed into fangs, and his eyes slowly changed from their usually dark blue to a reddish golden color. He looked like a predator on the hunt, eyes focused on the price, he knew what he wanted, and he knew what he had to do, to get it.

Slowly a smirk spread on his handsome face, a smirk that terrified the soldiers. They knew what was coming, and they knew that there was no way around him, not unless they wanted to lose a lot of time, and risk loosing the other two. They quickly split up, one group of soldiers heading towards Aomine, and they knew that most of them wouldn't live to see another day, and the other group turned at the first corner and started running. They knew that if they wanted to catch up again, they had to hurry. The others had a ten minute advantage.

xXx

Kise ran, he ran as fast as he could with the smaller boy in his arms, but it was hard. Not because he was heavy, but because the small boy kept coughing and moving around. And it was hard not to stop to make sure that the boy would be okay, but he knew that if he stopped to make sure, then they were doomed, there was no way that he could keep running faster than the soldiers. So he kept going, even as the small boy in his arms coughed blood everywhere.

But he wasn't fast enough, the had only just made it outside when the sound of the soldiers could be heard, and he knew. He knew that there was no way that he would be able to outrun them, not that he really needed to. When they got close enough to see, Kuroko made his move. Lifting his trembling hand he pointed at them, and with a slow, sad, smile. He knew what he had to do, but it would only make sure that he wouldn't be able to survive another day.

The shadows sprang up from all around him, moving towards the startled soldiers, surrounding them, consuming them, and the last thing they heard from them was the terrified screams of dying men, of men finally understanding what lived in the shadows.

Kise also looked terrified, but only just for a second. He hadn't known how much power the fragile blue haired boy had, he hadn't even imagined that he could do something like that. But he did not stop running. He only sped up, and soon the black outer wall was visible, but so was the soldiers that patrolled the wall, keeping watch, looking for them.

He knew that there was no way that they both would make it outside, knew that either he had to leave Kuroko there, or he would have to stay to distract the soldiers, not that there was much of a choice, there was no way that he would leave his 'little brother' there on his own, he could only just hope that the boy would make it to the outside unharmed.

"Kuroko I need you to listen to me. When we get to that wall you need to get to the other side, I know you have a way, don't even try to deny it. But there is no way that I'm gonna make it to the other side. We both know that. So I'm gonna stay here to distract them." He didn't even give the boy time to protest, he just put him on the ground when they were almost at the wall, and gave him a big hug. "You need to go on."

He looked on as the trembling boy staggered towards the wall, it was nothing more than a five minute walk. He looked on as the boy's walk started to get steadier, and he slowly started to run. He somehow felt happy, he knew that the other would make it to the other side of the wall. He slowly looked up at the wall, it was time to go. He had people to meet in the other world. He didn't look as Kuroko slowly disappeared from the wall in a black swirl of shadows.

When he knew for sure that the boy was gone he slowly started changing, changing into his real form. He looked at his now black fingernails, he was as much a freak as the others, and there was no way around it. He just knew how to hide it. When he was sure that he had all eyes on his white haired figure, he started changing again. He might have said that he was unable to copy the others, but that wasn't entirely true. He knew that he would be able to, but once he did he would never be able to change back.

His hair slowly turned blood red with purple highlights, a dark green, almost black, horseshoe appeared on his forehead, and he got a dark blue and a golden eye. He looked at his now white skinned hand, and smile softly. The only one he hadn't been able to copy was Kuroko, and that was because he was still alive. The fact that he was able to copy Aomine only meant that the dark skinned boy already had met his end, and so had Akashi.

He looked at the soldiers, if he had to go he would take as many of them with him as he could, there was no way that he would go without a fight. An animal-like smile graced his lips. He knew that he would die there, multiplied rifles pointing at him solidified that belief. The first shot sounded through the air, and he quickly dodged. They didn't shoot with darts this time, it was real guns with real bullets, but for some reason that didn't frighten him. He was calm, content with the knowledge that he wouldn't survive.

xXx

Kuroko panted as he slowed down. He was finally on the other side of that dreaded black wall, and he knew that they couldn't find him again, he knew that he could disappear, leave and never come back. He could finally give in to the shadows, and just leave everything behind. He could finally join the others, or maybe not. Had he really deserved to meet them again? It was his fault that Kise and Aomine were dead, he had not killed them himself, but he might as well have. It was his decision that led to their deaths, their blood was on his hands.

He staggered through the forest, when had he gotten there? He couldn't really find it in himself to care. He knew that it probably had been the shadows, he no longer controlled them, he had set them free to protect Kise and himself, they did as they pleased. He looked around, the black wall was nowhere in sight, and for the first time in his nineteen years Kuroko finally felt free. He felt tears make their way down his cheeks. He was free, but at what price? He was alone again, alone with the shadows. He had finally found a place where people accepted him, where he wasn't feared, and he had led them all to their deaths. Akashi would be long gone by then, he had been dying when they had left. And he had left the others too. Left them to die in that lab, so that he could get out.

It was cold out, but he didn't notice as he collapsed against a tree. His tears were freezing before they even made their track all the way down his face, and his breath came in short white puffs of air in front of him. A coughing fit tore through his weak body, making him tremble against the tree as blood seeped through his fingers and onto the frozen ground. Finally the coughing fit started to subside and he slowly slid to the ground. He was so tired, but strangely enough, he wasn't cold anymore. He knew that he was dying, and he accepted that. He had thought that he wanted to live a long and happy life once he got out, but he didn't want to be alone anymore. He wanted to be with the others again, this time without the experiments, without the deaths, and without the pain.

A warm ray of sun touched his white skin, and he slowly turned his head to look at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. He felt a smile stretch across his cold lips. He hadn't seen the sun in a very long time, and now that he looked up at it he found himself strangely calm, not worried at all about what awaited him on the other side. That little ray of sun that had touched his cold skin made him believe, believe that everything would be okay, that he would see them all again.

One last puff of white air left the blue haired boys blood-covered mouth, as eyelids slowly closed to lid the aquamarine eyes. He looked like he was sleeping, caught in eternal peaceful sleep, and as shadows slowly crawled across his body the sky got darker. The wind was getting harsher and the sky darker by the second, and once the shadows totally covered the small boy, the storm began. The harsh winds swept up snow while more fell from the sky. Lightning roared across the sky, striking down into trees randomly.

Mother nature mourned the loss of the last of her children, and she held nothing back as she let the humans feel her sorrow. She knew that the last of her children would have loved to see her like that. Finally letting go of all restrains, showing the humans her true power. He deserved better, he deserved to die in peace. She knew that the shadows would protect his body, make sure that no matter how long others searched, they would never find him. They had hurt him enough when he was alive, they were no longer able to do as they wanted, she wouldn't allow it.

* * *

**_And that was the end :) it was a lot harder to write this than i had thought, started a few months ago, but sometimes i just got stuck, but it's finally done, and I'm quite happy with the result. And it was hard getting it all to fit together, i had just written a lot of scenes, some in the beginning, some in the middle and some in the end, and then i had to come up with something that would lead from one point to the other :P BUT IT WORKED :D!_**

**_Now then! Please Review :D!_**


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